Religion: The Unpredictable Vicar

Tall, spare Anglican Vicar W. G. Hargrave Thomas, 60, is used to
causing raised eyebrows in the town of Needham Market, England. In
1947, for example, he made his parishioners gasp by announcing: "I
believe that unmarried women who are unable to get themselves husbands
and who wish to have a family should be able to go ahead and have
children." At his bishop's pointed suggestion, Vicar Thomas later took
it back.

Many Needham Marketers have also been puzzled by the combination of
their vicar's left-wing politics and right-wing religion. Each Sunday
for...